


Volume 3: Festival of War

by Thorns_of_a_Rose



Series: Scattered Petals AU [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Fall of Beacon, Fear, Major Battle, Multi, The War Begins, White Fang
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-11-30 11:04:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11462268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thorns_of_a_Rose/pseuds/Thorns_of_a_Rose
Summary: Just like every show, RWBY has a lot of 'what if' moments, places where the story could go in a whole different direction just because of one change.Scattered Petals is one of those universes, one where Team RWBY never formed, the reason why is explained in the Volume 1 Prologue. The rest of the story follows characters, both returning and new, in this world where an old power has died, starting the cycle anew. So join teams old and new as they embark on a journey that will test their spirits as an evil rises, threatening to burn all of Remnant.Volume 3 means the Vytal Festival is here...and with it comes a poem about the fallen ones.In the heat of battle, a warrior shall be trickedInto committing a crime they would never commitTheir grief and sorrow will be felt by allAnd it will bring a kingdom’s fallIn their grief they will make decisions both good and badAnd tell the one they love the life they could have hadThey will attempt to bring down those who brought this to passIf done alone, this act shall be their lastThe question is reader, Do you believe in destiny?





	1. Prologue: Of Life, Love, and Loss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The four teams meet for a quick discussion of the questions hanging in the air, and Elizabeth's latest poem spells out the death of one and the guilty grief of another

Leonard awoke to chirping birds and blue skies, the day at Samuel’s was over, it was nice to see Summer, Ruby, and Yang one more time before the festival, they had wished him, as well as the rest, good luck in the tournament, both Blake and Weiss had felt a little awkward about the entire situation, seeing the people who could have been their partners like that, it was more than a little rough on the conscious, Leonard had reassured them both that there was nothing they could have done, and all they could do now was to make sure that their deaths were not in vain.

After his shower, he found Elizabeth frantically scanning her notebook. Leonard sighed, of course he would get hit with this today, not that he didn’t want to help his girlfriend try to decipher the meaning of her latest poem, he knew it would end up being distracting considering what they had planned today.  
“Leonard,” Elizabeth said, “This is really important, I think it’s about the person who’s going to-“  
“Babe,” Leonard said, putting a finger to her lips and kissing her forehead, “We got stuff to do today, can we please get through that first before we move onto this,” her glare was the only response, “Look, I know this is important, but please, let get this talk done first.”  
Elizabeth sighed, “Alright, we should get this done first, though I don’t understand why we aren’t just telling them what we see, like all of it, just tell them who has feelings for who.”  
“Because it has to be natural,” Leonard explained, “It has to come from them, not someone else.”  
Elizabeth smiled, wrapping her arms around the boy who had always loved her, “Alright, but only because it’s what you wouldn’t do.”  
Leonard blushed, “Look, that was a different circumstance, I thought I had-“  
He was cut off by a kiss, Elizabeth giggling as the two pulled apart.  
“Fine,” Leonard said, rolling his eyes with a smile, “It’s not what I did, but this is different, they don’t have to worry about what I have to.”

 

* * *

 

_Common Room 15, First Year Dorms_

Leonard and Elizabeth were not the first to arrive, Samantha and Natalia were already there, the only two pairs in their group be actually be together. They had been discussing this for several months in a small chat room Leonard made. The conclusions had been made, the various pairing were decided, and they all agreed that this talk needed to happen.

“So explain to me why we’re not just telling them,” Samantha asked, she had the same question Elizabeth had, it was a legitimate question.  
Leonard sighed, “Because it has to be natural, we can’t just force it upon them. Besides, we could still be wrong, Coco’s a massive flirt. Ren and Nora could have attempted something before they came here and decided it wasn’t going to work. Someone may just not feel the same as the person who loves them. We don’t know for certain, we’re just going off of what we see.”  
“So you’re doubting yourself when it come to the other teams,” Natalia commented.  
“Mostly,” Leonard said, “It’s Blake too, there’s so much we don’t know about her, and this includes Zinnea. All we know about her past is that she was a member of the White Fang since she was little, we don’t know her associations, and we don’t know what kind of people she knew or was close with.”  
“And that matters to this how,” asked Elizabeth.  
“Not much,” Leonard said, “But sometimes it bothers me, like, could be possibly take on the White Fang at full strength?”  
“”We’ve done it before,” Samantha pointed out.  
“No,” Leonard said, “You guys took on a bunch of low level goons under the leadership of a madman in a bowler hat. Weiss herself said she almost died trying to fight the guy with the chainsaw, that same guy is the person Blake said is the current lieutenant to the ‘Mad Bull’. If we have trouble fighting him, are we going to stand a chance against them in the long run?”  
“Well, we’re going to get stronger too,” a new voice said, the four turning to see that Orion and Weiss had entered the room.  
“Dust,” Leonard said, “Don’t scare me like that.”  
“But you don’t have any guns,” Orion pointed out.  
“Still a bad idea to surprise the person who can kill you with a touch,” Leonard countered.  
“Fair point,” Orion said before changing the subject, “So are we going to be another ‘end of the world’ talk today, or is this one different?”  
“It’s something else,” Leonard said with a smirk.  
Orion looked at his friend’s smirk and grimaced, “You better not be trying to pull any of that crap again.”  
“That was an April Fool’s prank,” Leonard said, “Besides, you didn’t have any problems with it until you found out that it was with Braxton.”  
“Still doesn’t mean you get to play with people like that,” Orion countered.  
“You’re right, Orion,” Elizabeth said, trying to calm their friend, “That’s why today is only going to be about what we see, no one’s going to force you to go through with anything.”  
“Do I even want to know,” Orion asked, concerned about what they were seeing.  
“Only if you want to deal with your feelings before you’re ready.”  
“I now don’t want to know.”

After about a half hour, the rest of the pairs filtered into the room, many of them taking up the various loveseats in the room. This trick was actually an accident, they had scheduled use of the room for this three weeks ago, but hadn’t checked to see what was in the room they had gotten. At least no one was complaining, the only moment of annoyance was when Team CFVY got into the room, Coco taking one of the two chairs in the room, leaving Velvet a little annoyed that she wasn’t sitting with her. After several seconds of having to deal with Velvet’s puffed up cheeks, a sight that everyone thought was adorable, but no one said anything, Coco relented, sitting next to Velvet, the rabbit Faunas getting noticeably cheerier with the decision.

After everyone was seated, Leonard coughed, quieting the low chatter and bringing the attention in the room to him.  
“Now,” he started, “You’re probably wondering why we called you all here today.”  
“Obviously,” Coco piped up from the back.  
Leonard ignored her, “Well, to make any of you wondering feel a little bit better, it’s nothing like yesterday.”  
At that everyone relaxed a little, just enough where several tensed again at Leonard’s next sentence, “Instead we’re going to talk about something we’ve noticed.”  
“We’ve noticed how all you of have been acting,” Samantha explained, “And while some of you may have noticed it too, you’ve been nervous to act on how you feel, which is probably for the best.”  
“We’re not asking for you to not act on those feelings,” Elizabeth said, “We’re saying to not do it now. We all saw what’s coming, we don’t know what is going to happen on that day, we don’t know what we might lose, or who. We’re not asking you to deny yourselves, we don’t know if we’re all going to get out of this alive. Sometimes the pain of not knowing the truth hurts less than knowing the truth, but knowing you will never get to see it for what it is.”  
“But you know,” Zinnea said, her words being the first from the silent crowd, all too shocked and confused to say anything, “Don’t you?”  
“We do,” Natalia answered, the simple response could have brought an onslaught of questions, but every word caught in their throats when Leonard spoke.  
“But if we told you it wouldn’t be real would it,” he said, “We could be wrong, we could have forced it too soon, we could have broken something because one side does not feel the same as the other, and that’s why. We’re telling you this not because we don’t want you to go for it, we’re telling you this because there’s a time and a place, but now is not it. There are pains no person should go through when they’re this young…” he trailed off, but everyone knew what he meant.

After several seconds of quiet someone decided to speak, it was a voice no one was expecting.  
“What’s to stop us,” Pyrrha asked, “I mean, can’t we just tell them anyways.”  
“You can,” Leonard said, “But the question of what happens when you do still lingers, are you ready for consequences that are out of your grasp?”  
Pyrrha became silent, the rest of the room had other arguments die in their throats. After several seconds of thinking, Blake suggested that they should go. Everyone agreed, on the way out the door, Orion stopped Leonard to talk.  
“When Natalia said you guys know about everyone’s relationships, did she mean it,” the question caused the taller boy to start cracking his knuckles, a nervous habit he picked up a while ago.  
Leonard looked at him, “For the most part, yes,” he said, “Coco and Blake are hard to judge, Coco being very flirtatious and Blake’s…Blake.”  
Orion sighed, “Why me?”  
Leonard chuckled, “It’s not all bad man…look whether you want to admit it or not, you two could be good for each other, you just both have to get around all of ‘that’.”  
“I know,” Orion said, “It’s just, I wish they didn’t make my heart skip every time they looked at me.”

 

* * *

 

After the ‘meeting’ Leonard and Elizabeth made their way back to the dorm, Elizabeth hadn’t been all there during the meeting, her thoughts always lingering to the dream she had last night. The poem had come with no visions, no scenes of what was to come, only sounds of battle and a chilling line when the poem was over, a single sentence that had turned her blood to ice, she had written it down under the poem, since Leonard had to see it. As they got back to their dorm, Elizabeth rushed for her notebook, needing to get his done now.  
“Alright, babe,” Leonard said, “So what’s the new poem you wanted to show me?”  
Elizabeth handed it to Leonard, the boy scanning over the poem quickly, the relaxed look on his face quickly turning to one of fear and nervousness as she explained the dream had been nothing but battle noise and then that one line, written in fire, Leonard eyes got even wider as he read that line, almost like he was imagining the voice that went with it.  
Looking it over again, he read the poem aloud, a habit of his, letting all who would listen hear the chilling lines.

 

* * *

 

In the heat of battle, a warrior shall be tricked  
Into committing a crime they would never commit  
Their grief and sorrow will be felt by all  
And it will bring a kingdom’s fall

In their grief they will make decisions both good and bad  
And tell the one they love the life they could have had  
They will attempt to bring down those who brought this to pass  
If done alone, this act shall be their last

* * *

 

“Do you believe in destiny,” he said, reading line under the poem, before pausing.  
“Oh Dust,” he said after several seconds, collapsing on their bed.  
“I was hoping you would know something,” Elizabeth said, laying down beside him.  
“I wish,” Leonard said, “It just…it could be anyone.”  
“Then instead of the ‘who’, let’s go with the ‘what’,” Elizabeth suggested.  
“Whoever it is, they’re going to kill someone, be tricked into it, and they will most likely die in the chaos that follows,” Leonard said, “It’s possible we are going to lose a friend.”  
“And you don’t want to lose anyone else,” Elizabeth said, the sentence being more of a statement than a question.  
Leonard sighed, “Yea…I know there’ll be funerals eventually, but I don’t want to add to the dead, not now.”  
“Shh,” Elizabeth whispered, trying to calm her boyfriend on the verge of tears, “Just let it all out, I’m here, and even if everyone else dies, I promise I will never leave you.”  
She kissed him on the forehead as he cried, just letting out his fears.

 

* * *

 

In JNPR’s dorm, Pyrrha spent the rest of the day, contemplating what Leonard had said. He was right, she could end any chance of being with him if she said anything. She thought about it for hours, eventually deciding to wait, she wanted to tell him, but she didn’t know, she hoped he felt the same, but there was a part of her that always told her she was wrong, that he was like the rest, that he just saw her as too high of a goal. He wasn’t like that when they first met, but she also knew people change, they always change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter to kick off Volume 3, and with it an official list of all the ships I want by the end of my series(barring RT killing off more major characters)
> 
> Leonard Thorn/Elizabeth Pavlichenko (Curse Immunity)  
> Blake Belladonna/Zinnea Draconov (Black Dragon/Blackfire)  
> Samantha White/Natalia Tisoki (White Russian)  
> Weiss Schnee/Orion Vagasada (Lady and the Tramp)  
> Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos (Arkos)(Haven't decided if I...you know)  
> Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie (Renora)  
> Coco Adel/Velvet Scarlatina (Crosshares)
> 
> As for the poem, well...you all know what's coming, and who knows, maybe I'll leave the choice to you guys.


	2. Chapter 1: Grimm and Auburn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team BLZE fights through hell in the placement round and Team SNOW starts their tournament off with an amazing showing.

The Vytal Festival kicked off without any problems, not that anyone was expecting it to. With Roman Torchwick behind bars, the police of Vale expected crime to drop, but in the two weeks between the breach in southeast Vale and the beginning of the Vytal Festival, crime had inexplicitly dropped, it had gone to next to nothing, the occasional petty thief or basic vandalism, but besides that, nothing, almost like the underworld of Vale had gone silent.

 

* * *

 

_Amity Colosseum_

“Explain again why we’re doing this,” Zinnea asked, the dragon Faunas had been filled with nervous energy for the past three days, watching the other ‘placement’ rounds go down, Vale, being the host city was last on the list. They all knew what they were getting into, but it didn’t make the tension coursing through Zinnea’s body lessen any.   
“They explained to us at least twice today, Z,” Blake said, “It’s to see how we handle ourselves against non-human combatants.”  
“So Grimm,” Zinnea said plainly.   
“Not like there’s much else,” Leonard joked, “Besides, whoever gets highest points in their placement round gets to choose the music for each round they go into. I just want to be able to fight to our music.”  
“Oobleck said points are based on completion time, aura levels, and…sync with music,” Elizabeth explained, getting a little confused on the last one.   
“Port said if a team finishes their fight as the song finishes, they get bonus points or something like that,” Leonard said, “Personally, I just want to see if it’s possible, not a single team has been able to do it.”   
“Speaking of which,” Blake started, curious on what she was going to be working with, “What do we have for our song?”  
She looked at Zinnea, who had been arguing and discussing with Leonard the week before on what they were going to do about music if they got a high score.   
“Don’t look at me,” the dragon Faunas said, hands up in ‘defeat’, “Leonard won our bet, he got first choice.”  
“Bet,” Blake asked, confused.   
“Your partner has horrible luck when it comes to rock-paper-scissors,” Leonard chuckled.   
“You two played rock-paper-scissors to determine this,” Blake shouted, her voice echoing across the currently empty locker room they were in.   
“They did,” Elizabeth said deadpan, “I had to referee.”  
Blake groaned as an announcement came over the speakers, “Team BLZE to the staging platform. Repeat, Team BLZE to the staging platform.”  
“Also, Blake,” Leonard said, getting his leader’s attention, “The song I chose, it’s Snavs, Into the Wild.”  
“Doesn’t that seem a little on the nose,” Zinnea asked.   
“Considering we’re going up against Grimm, I thought it was thematic,” Leonard argued.

As the four stepped onto the platform, it began to raise, getting into the center Team BLZE prepared themselves for the fight ahead, Leonard taking his girlfriend around the waist and kissing her, ‘for good luck’ was his excuse, but the roar of the crowd showed his true intentions, a little bit of action for the crowd. While the two remained locked in the kiss, the music began around them, the Grimm rising out of the waste-like ruins forming the rest of the arena.

* * *

 

Don’t be afraid of the dark  
I’m gonna hold your hand, Wherever you are  
Let’s get lost tonight, Let’s go somewhere  
Let’s get wild tonight, Let’s run away from here  
Let’s get lost tonight, Let’s go somewhere  
Let’s get wild tonight, Let’s run away from here  
Let’s run away, run away  
Let’s run away, run away  
Let’s run away, run away  
Let’s run away, run away  
Let’s go into the wild

 

* * *

 

While the music had gotten going, the four had gone to work, Beowolves and Creepers charged them, the monsters easily falling to their blades, strikes, shots, and semblances, Leonard keeping his semblances on the down-low by using his right hand only, at least for the finishing blows, his armored left hand was still doing work with punches and swipes. As the four fought, Zinnea noticed that there seemed to be less Grimm than they thought, she didn’t give the idea much attention until one Grimm was snatched up by an enormous tentacle right before she could eviscerate it.   
“Uh guys,” she yelled across the arena, “We have something eating the Grimm.”  
Leonard was the first to spot the monster, a giant maw that was grabbing not just Grimm, but the environment around it as well. It was covered in bony armor, the glowing orange lines that led down its sides meant it could only be one thing.   
“Oh shit,” Leonard said, his eyes going wide with his revelation.   
“What,” Blake said, slicing away at a Creeper that had leapt at Leonard.   
“That’s a Bakasura,” Leonard exclaimed, “From the looks of those markings, it’s from the Pyrus subspecies.”  
“And that is what exactly,” Zinnea asked.   
“Giant maw, consumes stuff around it until it’s built up enough power for a powerful attack, in this case, it’s a huge furnace, one that can let loose a giant blast of fire,” quickly explained the boy, his growing panic evident.   
“Uh guys,” the three looked at Elizabeth, who was pointing at the giant maw, now glowing orange as it prepared to incinerate all in front of them.   
“Scatter,” yelled Blake, her teammates running to get out of the way, Leonard nearly tacking Elizabeth as the two dove behind a large piece rubble. Blake however tripped while trying to get away.   
“Blake,” Leonard shouted, having to cower behind his makeshift shelter as the Bakasura unleashed an inferno, covering the battlefield, at the last second, a streak of white and brown swooping down.

The crowd gasped, thinking that Blake Belladonna had been burnt to a crisp by the torrent of fire. Leonard was about to burst into tears when a cheer erupted throughout the stadium, peeking out from their protection, Leonard and Elizabeth saw Zinnea standing triumphantly over Blake, her wings spread out over her partner. Leonard had no idea how she had done it, but there wasn’t time for that.   
“Elizabeth,” he shouted, “That thing has one weakness, the giant Dust crystal on its back. We don’t have time to get around it, but I don’t that armor is strong enough to withstand a 95 cal. Round.”  
Elizabeth nodded before noticing the few Grimm left from the onslaught, “Cover me,” she shouted as she loaded her shot, Iron Romanov extending to its maximum length. Leonard got to work, disabling and distracting the few Beowolves left to let Elizabeth take the shot, the sound of a cannon roared across the field, a single shot going straight through the great beast, shattering the crystal on its back as it exited. The death was followed by a fiery explosion, with the song they were fighting too fading out not even two seconds later as the last Grimm fell. The crowd erupting into cheer as the points were added up, the commentators talking about the results.

“I still can’t believe you guys managed to do that,” said the voice, after the match, Leonard and Elizabeth decided to make their weekly call to Elizabeth’s parents, who were so proud of their daughter for her work in the fight.   
“Yea,” Elizabeth said, playing with her hair, “It was nothing. We just did what we do best.”  
“Nothing,” her mother exclaimed, “You guys just got the highest score in any Vytal Festival placement round. The entire stadium was ecstatic, you guys were amazing.”  
“Thanks, mom,” Elizabeth said, before changing the subject, “By the way, did the kids watch?”  
“They most certainly did,” her mother said proudly, adjusting the camera to show Elizabeth’s little twin siblings, Suou and Shion, who waved at the screen when they saw their older sister appear, “They’re a little young to understand what exactly what was going on, but they were excited for you nonetheless.”  
“And dad,” Elizabeth asked, not needing to actually ask the question.   
“Down in the shop,” her mother said, “He watched the match, but he wants to finish Leonard’s second weapon as soon as possible. He said the first one should be there just in time for your guys’ eleventh anniversary. He also had some choice words for you kissing Elizabeth like that, Leonard.”  
“It wasn’t too bad, Mrs. Pavlichenko,” Leonard said, “Besides, the crowd seemed to enjoy it.”  
“Leonard,” Mrs. Pavlicheno said, “How many times do we have to tell you that you can call us by our actual names?”  
“I know, I know,” Leonard said, “But I will say this again, I’d like to wait until I marry your daughter before I start doing that. I’m not family yet, so until then, I won’t do it.”  
“You are such a dork,” Elizabeth teased.   
Leonard rolled his eyes as Elizabeth’s mother chuckled, “Alright you two,” she said, “Get some rest, you guys got a whole tournament ahead of you.”

As the two returned to their dorms, Elizabeth asked the question that had been bothering her during the call.   
“Are you sure it’s a good idea not to tell them?”  
“No,” Leonard sighed, “But if we do, I don’t know what the consequences would be.”  
“What do we do if one of us doesn’t survive,” Elizabeth asked, the question still a nightmare they had both experienced.   
“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” Leonard said, “because I don’t know.”

 

* * *

 

_Day 6 of Vytal Festival_

The cheers of the crowd echoed through the stadium, mixed with the sounds of combat as the latest fight was getting started. The song of choice, Au5’s ‘Snowblind played in the background.

Professor Port chortled from the announcer booth, “It seems we have another astonishing bout ahead of us! Wouldn’t you agree, Professor?”  
“Doctor,” corrected Oobleck, before getting into his answer, “And yes, Peter, I think it’s safe to say this match maybe one of the closest we’ve seen in the four-on-four round of the tournament!”  
Port started to go into his speech, for those all now watching, “For those of you just now joining us, welcome to the Vytal Festival tournament, broadcasting live from the Amity Colosseum! And if this is your first time watching, allow us to break down the rules.”   
“The tournament is divided into four distinctive rounds,” Oobleck explained, “Grimm, Teams, Doubles, and Singles. Age and school year are irrelevant, the only attribute being tested is skill.”  
“Correct,” exclaimed Port, before explaining how the rounds work, “The Grimm round has teams facing off against the terrors of the wild to see how they rank. The team rounds are four-on-four bouts, last team standing is the winner, with the winners electing two of their members to participate in the doubles round, followed by the winners of that round choosing one member to advance once again. The remaining combatants will make their way through the final bracket in the hope of achieving victory for their kingdom!”  
“And yes, Peter,” Oobleck said, turning the attention back to the match, “These certainly some spectacular spectacles on which to spectate on, and I don’t think anyone tuning in around the world is going to disagree with me on that!”  
“And why would they,” Port agreed, “Now, let’s get back to the match between Team SNOW of Beacon and Team ARBN of Haven!”

On the battlefield below, Natalia Tisoki found herself dueling Reese Chloris, the skater girl using her board to great effect, as Natalia found herself on the defensive, her gauntlets barely enough to deflect a blow from the bladed board, before sending it back at her attacked, the two locking in a close combat duel, a powerful kick knocking Reese back, who attempted to take out Natalia with a kickflip, only to have the attack dodged, her board slashed in two by the hidden blades in Natalia’s gauntlets. In the air, the board’s two halves forms pistols, Reese taking several shots at Natalia before landing on her ass, tailbone slamming into the ice, drawing a pained noise from the audience.   
Meanwhile, Samantha found herself clashing with Arslan Atlan, the two team leaders clashed, the blows from Samantha’s weapon, Gefror Handschuh, clashing with Arslan’s semblance, each blow that connected sending out a small shockwave, while the rest were dodged, finally, Arslan got the upper hand, using her weapon to knock Samantha off-balance, the following kick sending her skidding across the ice that made up half of the arena, unable to regain her balance in time, a second strike sends Samantha sprawling to the ground in front of Nadir Shiko, but before he could do anything, the formation of ice Dust next to him exploded, encasing his lower half in ice.   
“Got your back,” shouted Orion from across the arena, his shotgun’s slug round responsible for the icy blast.   
“And who’s got yours,” Bolin Hori asked, just before Weiss kicked him through a glyph, sending him flying back.   
The action earned a thumbs up and a slightly flirtatious wink from Orion, causing Weiss to just roll her eyes, before rushing off to fight Bolin.   
Bolin barely had time to recover before Schnee was upon him, slashing and stabbing at him, using her glyphs to give her a speed advantage, and the ability to launch Orion into the fight, the bladed stock of his weapon slamming into Bolin’s staff, before firing the detached mini-shotgun, sending Bolin flying backwards. As the boy got up, he looked around, seeing the situation his team was in, he decided on a different strategy. Rushing the two, he rolled under the ice projectiles created by Weiss, and leapt over the strikes of Orion, running past the two of them, both with confused looks on their faces.   
Breaking off a piece of a fire Dust crystal, he called out to Reese, tossing the raw crystal to her, the skater instantly slamming it into her skateboard, infusing the weapon with fire, using the heat generated to free Nadir before going after Natalia, who was forced to dodge the attacks, not wanting to get hit with fire-empowered strikes, before using her grappling hooks to launch herself away from the skater. Reese followed, not realizing that Natalia had already set up a trap, as Reese turned a second corner, Natalia launched herself forward, knocking Reese off her board and out of the arena.   
“Ouch,” Port exclaimed from the announcer’s booth, “A double whammy, Reese Chloris has just been eliminated by ring out and aura level!”  
“She really should’ve worn a helmet,” commented Oobleck.

As Samantha chased Arslan around the icy half of the arena, Nadir and Bolin were being thrown around by the Schnee, sending the two sprawling to the ground, Weiss used her semblance to construct a giant hand of ice, its grip tight on the two boys, and the fist turned into a giant ice boulder, rolling towards the edge of the arena.   
Sighing, Arslan changed her course to intercept, putting herself between the edge of the arena and the rolling ball of ice. Bracing herself, she focused all her excess aura into her fist, in a single punch she shattered the icy prison, freeing her teammates as they landed around her.   
Seeing the opportunity, Weiss decided that they needed to finish this now.   
“Samantha,” she called out, creating a giant ramp of ice, “Now!”  
Using the cannons in her current weapon, Samantha accelerated herself up the ramp, Natalia using her grappling cables to give her girlfriend a little extra momentum, the redhead using Orion as a springboard to launch the pair at the enemy. The three remaining members looked up to see Natalia hurtling towards them, the redhead using the cables to throw Samantha at the three, the brunette slamming into the competition, the momentum from the launch thrown into the strike, sending them flying, knocking them all out in a single blow. The audience burst into rousing cheers and congratulatory applauses.   
“And that’s the match,” Port announced, “Team SNOW is victorious!”  
“We won,” said Weiss, a little surprised that worked so well.   
The thumbs up from her teammates and the cheering of the crowd caused Samantha to jump into her girlfriend’s arms.   
“We did it,” she shouted as she leapt in, before kissing Natalia on the lips.

 

* * *

 

_Fairgrounds_

“Is anyone else starving,” Samantha groaned, the adrenaline rush from their match was gone, now all that was left was a gnawing hunger.   
“I may have worked an appetite,” Natalia commented with a satisfied smirk, before her stomach made an exceptionally loud growl, it almost sounded like a Grimm.   
“If only there was somewhere on campus to get food around here,” Weiss said sarcastically, gesturing to the fairgrounds around them, “Oh wait.”  
“Good point,” Samantha said.   
“And the victorious shall go hungry without a second thought,” a voice called out, Leonard strolling up with the rest of his team, putting his arm around Orion, “You guys kicked ass out there.”  
“Thanks, Leonard,” Samantha said, “We were about to get something, but not sure what.”  
“Us to,” Elizabeth said, “Come on, we’ll take you guys to where we were going.”  
As the eight set off, Weiss’s scroll buzzed, it was a call from her father; she refused to answer it. There was no way she was speaking to that man any time soon. There was also a cough behind them, a voice speaking up while holding Leonard’s wallet.   
“Hey,” Emerald called, holding the wallet, “Might be hard to eat without this!”  
Leonard turned around, patting himself down, “Huh,” he mused, “Could’ve sworn it was in my pocket.”  
“Eh,” Emerald said with a shrug, “Happens to everyone, good to see you, Leonard.”  
“Yea,” Leonard said, “Thanks Emerald.”  
“What’s up, Em,” Zinnea said, standing next to Leonard.   
“Not much, just left the stadium,” Emerald responded, before shouting over Leonard’s shoulder at Team SNOW, “You guys did amazing by the way.”  
“Thanks, Em,” Samantha shouted back.   
“Yea, they were good,” Blake said, “Speaking of victories though, I heard you guys moved on to the next round, too.”  
“Even though we never seem to see anyone on your team besides you,” Elizabeth said, slightly sarcastic, but it was true, besides the occasional spotting of Mercury, Cinder, and Romia, Emerald was basically the face of her team.   
“Yea,” Zinnea said, “How’d they did in their fight?”  
Emerald thought about it, remembering the unnecessarily aggression Neo decided to do during their fight, she didn’t need to step that guy’s face in, but she did anyways.   
“Really well,” Emerald said, a little strained remembering that moment.   
Leonard chuckled, “Well, with how Romia was during the placements, I’m not surprised, little girl’s a one-woman wrecking crew. You guys should totally join us and SNOW for some victory food.”  
Emerald stiffened at the request, hoping Mercury would be doing something to get them out of this, “Oh, I’d love to, but the rest of my is kind of…introverted,” Emerald hissed out, looking over her shoulder to see Mercury sniffing a pair of boots he was interested in, “Really socially awkward.”  
“Alright then,” Elizabeth put simply, the rest of BLZE just nodding in agreement.   
“So yeah,” Emerald continued, moving on from her boot sniffing partner, “Cinder wants Merc and me to be our pair for the doubles, you guys got any ideas on that.”  
Blake shrugged, “I got a couple ideas, but haven’t decided yet.”  
“Besides,” Leonard said, his tone getting a little dangerous, “You don’t want to know too much, you could get burnt, or worse.”  
“Ok then,” Emerald said, not wanting to push much further, “Well, whoever you guys pick, don’t expect us to go easy on you.”  
“Was about to say the same thing,” Zinnea said with a smirk.   
“Well, we’re gonna catch some more fights,” Emerald said, turning to leave, “Good luck in the tournament.”  
“You too,” Elizabeth shouted back, before whispering to Leonard, “She creeps me out so much.”

As Emerald walked towards Mercury, the look on her face said it all.   
“So how are the new ‘friends’,” Mercury asked, sarcasm dripping in his voice.   
“I hate them,” Emerald said.   
“Orders are orders,” said Mercury with a shrug.   
“I just don’t understand,” Emerald continued, “How are they so happy, like all the time, I am going to strangle at least one of them.”  
“Did you at least get what we want,” Mercury asked.   
“No,” Emerald said glumly, before shuddering, “Leonard fucking creeps me out, he gets really dangerous sounding, but with how he is most of the time, I just don’t know.”  
Emerald let out an exasperated sigh, “I don’t know how much longer I can deal with them.”  
“Well, looks like we’re flying blind,” Mercury said with a sigh of his own, “Cinder’s not gonna like this.”

At the stand, ‘A Simple Wok’, Teams SNOW and BLZE sat down for lunch, Leonard locked eyes with Mr. Riku. In an instant, a huge bowl of noodles were in front of him and Elizabeth, they had been here enough times that they had a regular order. Everyone else proceeded to order, most of them taking what Leonard and Elizabeth had gotten, Weiss asking for a healthier option, but getting the same order as everyone else. Blake got something special though, locking eyes with the old man, he disappeared into the kitchen, reappearing with bowl of noodles topped with several full salmons on top, the look in her eyes was something that everyone was a little surprised by, it was almost predatory, Zinnea felt herself blush at that look, a little jealous it wasn’t aimed at her.   
Before everyone decided to dig in, Weiss insisted she pay for everyone.   
“Really,” Leonard said quizzically, “What’s the occasion?”  
“Giving thanks to my team for sending me to the doubles round,” Weiss said with a smirk, “Besides, Samantha’s always trying to pay for stuff like this, thought I could return the favor.”  
As Weiss finished her sentence, her card was thrown into the counter, sticking into the wood, Mr. Riku coughed, gesturing to the cash register that had just declined her card.   
“How,” Weiss said in surprise, “I was barely into my weekly allowance.”  
“It’s ok Weiss,” Samantha said, tossing her card to the shopkeeper, just to keep him from taking Blake’s meal, “You’ll get to pay next time.”  
Just before they eight could dig in, a voice sounded out next to them, “Mind if we join you guys?”  
It was Jaune, joined by the rest of his team, who had smiles on their faces.   
“Only if you buy your own food,” Samantha joked.

Soon after the twelve had finished their noodles, everyone was satisfied, though Jaune was looking like he had eaten too much.   
“Are you sure it’s wise to have eaten before our match,” Ren asked.   
“Of course,” Pyrrha responded while Mr. Riku cleaned up the now empty bowls, “It will give us energy!”  
Nora let loose a resounding burp as Jaune tried to keep his stomach settled.   
“If I barf, I’m blaming you,” Jaune grumbled, his head on the counter.   
 “Oh! Aim it at the enemy,” Nora said with an almost sadistic grin.   
“Nora! That’s disgusting,” Ren chided, “But if you do feel the urge…”  
“Got it,” Jaune said, giving a thumbs-up.   
Pyrrha stood, “We should get going,” she said, their match was about to start.   
“You guys ready,” Leonard asked, curious more than anything, he had already seen their opponents, Samuel always did have access to things he shouldn’t.   
“Of course,” Nora said confidently, “We’ve got a world-renowned fighter, what’s basically a ninja, I can bench five of me, Jaune, we’ve been training super hard, our weapons are awesome, Glynda barely yells at us, and uh…Jaune!”  
“Are you going to take that,” Ren asked the blonde, who was still trying not to barf.   
“She’s not wrong,” he said, slightly muffled by the counter and his arm.   
“I’m kidding,” Nora quickly said, “He knows I’m kidding. Don’t be nervous! The worse that could happen is we lose,” Leonard felt like someone should’ve interrupted her at this point, but it was a little late now as the ginger continued, “Then it’s just a few more years of walking around the school with everyone knowing we’re failures, our friends slowly abandoning us to preserve their social status, we won’t be able to show her faces in class, no one will sit with us in the cafeteria, Ren and I have no parents, we have no home left to go to, we’ll be renamed Team LOSE-iper,” Nora ended her rambling with a nervous laugh before sobbing into the counter, Ren putting a hand on her shoulder.   
“So yea,” he said, drawing everyone attention, “We’re feeling pretty good.”  
“And I thought you were a nervous wreck,” Orion muttered, his comment aimed at Leonard, the other just nodding.   
“Don’t fret,” Pyrrha said, trying to cheer her team up, “If anything, we should be looking forward to a fight with actual guidelines and not…well, murderers.”  
“Yeah, don’t sweat it,” Zinnea said, “We’ve all faced way worse before.”  
Natalia proceeded to list off their recent adventures, “Let’s see: Grimm invasions, violent extremists, a destructive sociopath.”  
“And that’s before what’s coming next,” Leonard said, a little louder than he should, the rest looking at him, “Look, we’ll be fine, but it doesn’t change that what’s coming is probably going to be our biggest fight yet. After that hopefully it will be smooth sailing to graduation.”  
“Maybe then I’ll be able to pay for a meal,” Weiss said glumly.   
“Would Team JNPR please report to the battlegrounds immediately,” the intercom said, the voice being Professor Port.   
“Yes,” Doctor Oobleck sounded off, “Like they were scheduled to several minutes ago!”  
“Well, looks like this is it,” Pyrrha said, trying to undercut her nervousness.   
As JNPR left, Jaune still holding his stomach, the other two teams look at each other.   
“We missed Team CFVY’s match, didn’t we,” asked Samantha.   
“Seems that way,” said Elizabeth, “We probably shouldn’t make that mistake twice.”  
And like that, everyone headed off towards the colosseum, going to see the match involving Team JNPR.

 

* * *

 

_Amity Colosseum_

The crowd was cheering as Teams BLZE and SNOW found their seats, JNPR already squaring up against their competitors, the arena rolling out the set up.

Across the stadium, Mercury and Emerald took their seats to watch the match.   
“I wonder who’s gonna win,” Mercury said, his mouth full of popcorn.   
Emerald rolled her eyes, “As if we didn’t already know.”  
“Oh, come now,” Cinder said, their team leader taking a seat behind them, grabbing an unpopped kernel from Mercury bucket, popping it with her powers, “Even if you know how a story ends, that doesn’t make it any less fun to watch.”

Port’s voice echoed across the arena, an announcement for the battle below, “The next match will Team JNPR of Beacon versus Team BRNZ of Shade. Let the match begin!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was super fucking long chapter and I'd first like to apologize for taking so long with this one, work's had me swamped and while I want to finish Volume's 3 and 4 by October, part of me is just not feeling like it's going to happen, I'm going to try and get it done, but don't expect it. 
> 
> As for the 'placement matches' I just thought that a tournament all about finding the best huntsmen and huntresses in training not having a round involving Grimm was a little odd, so I decided to do that and add in my own kind of Grimm, the Bakasura, based off the Hindu demon of the same name, though this one had a little more straight-forward set-up.
> 
> And the songs that played during the matches were the following: 
> 
> \- [Snavs: Into the Wild](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcXdR_uoTtw)  
> \- [Au5: Snowblind](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DECxluN8OZM)

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer; With the exception of my OC's(labeled as such) the RWBY series, as well as many of the characters in this story are property of Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum.
> 
> If you wish to get to know the characters of this story more, check out my tumblr, [RWBY-Scattered Petals-AU](https://scatteredpetals-au.tumblr.com) for more. Thank you all.


End file.
